Method for establishing sua sponte large-scale person-to-person emergency electronic messaging communications based in part on subscriber telephone numbers

ABSTRACT

Lessons of the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attack (9/11) and Hurricane Katrina are incorporated. Methods are disclosed for rapidly establishing alternate electronic messaging for person-to-person communications in a large-scale emergency. Details for constructing electronic access addresses comprised in part by subscriber telephone numbers and an event identifier, allows the provider to establish a default system with no specific information from the user while allowing the user to access the messages in a systematic way. No registration or passwords are required, which allows free access to all interested parties. Expedited contact of lost pet owners and parents, as well as identification of the dead, is provided.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for rapidly establishing, sua sponte,a large-scale emergency electronic messaging communications system forperson-to-person electronic messaging communications according to arobust default addressing architecture based in part on pre-existingsubscriber telephone numbers. Electronic messages include, but are notlimited to, voice mail, electronic text mail, electronic images, anddata.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Recent history in the United States has exposed a significant absence ofa robust method for rapidly establishing large-scale person-to-personelectronic communications. This was clearly demonstrated in theimmediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States onSep. 11, 2001 (9/11) and the flooding of New Orleans following hurricaneKatrina on Aug. 29, 2005. Moreover, Katrina exposed a significantproblem locating lost pet owners.

In the case of a terrorist attack, one of the objectives of an enemy, asdefined in Title 18 section 2331 of the United States Code, is tointimidate or coerce a civilian population. This was clearly anobjective of the terrorist attack of Sep. 11, 2001, as demonstrated bythe choice of targets. One element of the intimidation was to amplifythe actual destruction by producing anxiety for anyone that had family,friends, loved ones, or business associates in New York, Washington ortraveling by airplane. This expanded the domain of anxiety to millionsof people that felt the need to contact those potentially affected, forreassurance.

The reflex reaction to call and check on people produced a flood ofcalls which overloaded the communications systems. Those with cellphones experienced problems with the overload, and rapidly exhaustedbattery power with no access to chargers. This rendered surviving meansfor communicating severely impaired.

Moreover, millions of people witnessing the confusion and anxiety of thevictims on television realized—but for the grace of God, there goes I.This realization prompted families and businesses to establishcontingency plans for establishing communications in an emergency.However, even those that have established contingency plans usually onlyinvolve a close circle of people.

In the aftermath of the attack, people in New York resorted to postingnotices on walls of adjacent buildings seeking information on others.People wishing to contact fellow workers, neighbors, and others whosecommunications systems had been destroyed were helpless. In cases ofbusinesses, personnel records were destroyed or unavailable, leaving nosystematic method for contacting employees and assessing plans fortemporary operations at remote locations. Many of the businessesaffected involved finance and world trade-expanding the anxiety to yetanother domain involving people worldwide.

In the case of the flooding of New Orleans nearly 4 years later, it wasdemonstrated that the person-to-person communications system was nobetter. While the flooding was a result of a natural disaster, itquickly became apparent that a city with portions below sea level couldbe a potential terrorist target. As disastrous as the hurricane induceddamage was (1836 lives were lost), a surprise terrorist sabotage of thelevee system could have produced an even greater loss of life and thecollective anxiety produced would have been comparable to September 11.

In addition to war, terrorism, and natural disasters (such as floods,hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc.), majordisruption in the communications systems can result from industrial andtransportation accidents (such as train derailments, chemical plantfires, nuclear power plant malfunctions, etc.), requiring immediateevacuation of large areas. On a smaller scale, a fire in a large officecomplex or government organization would produce a need for rapidlyestablishing communications between fellow workers and withindepartments for determining well being and establishing plans forresumption of business activities. In many cases, workers may only knowothers in the work environment and not know how to contact them at home.Increasingly, younger people have a cell phone which is not listed in adirectory, so even with a full name it may be impossible to contact themoutside of normal channels.

Historically, in the aftermath of a major disaster, organizations suchas the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) set up databases to connect victims with others. In the case ofHurricane Katrina the systems were completely overwhelmed. Thousands ofvictims from New Orleans were relocated to 28 states. Registration istypically on a one-on-one basis between the victim and a volunteer orstaff member. No provisions were made for dealing with lost pets orexpediting identification of the dead.

There is a problem of a unique, yet readily known, identification whichthis invention resolves for the great majority of the population. Forexample, a person may be known by a nickname, initials, or the spellingmay be debatable. Victims may be illiterate, elderly, deaf, mute, ormentally challenged—any of which could make registration even moredifficult.

There is a problem with privacy of information inherent withregistration, which this invention solves. It gathers no personalinformation in a central database, and the users remain practicallyanonymous, except to those that know the individual personally.

The registration process is time consuming and the dissemination of thedatabase can be inefficient. Registration requires logistical supportand additional relief personnel at the scene of the disaster. Thisinvention greatly alleviates the logistical requirements by dispensingwith all registration requirements and planning at the individual levelby providing a centrally administered default communications system thatis ready on short notice for use by individuals.

The state-of-the art at the time of Katrina is illustrated by a web pageby Sharon Keating titled FIND HURRICANE KATRINA SURVIVORS, List ofResources for Reconnecting with Missing Friends and Family, which isincorporated by reference herein. She listed 65 links as possible placesto look for information. A similar web page by CNN lists 28 links underLocate the Missing, which is incorporated by reference herein. These twoexamples show how persons wishing to locate individuals heretofore areforced to search in a fishing expedition through various ad hockdatabases.

While still inadequate, some progress has been made. For example,following the tornadoes that struck across the south on Feb. 5, 2008,killing over 50 people, the American Red Cross activated a Safe and WellList on the Internet, the instructions for which are incorporated byreference herein. As of Feb. 7, 2008, 4811 people had registered. Therequired fields include: First Name, Last Name, Home address Line 1,Home City, Home State, Home Zip Code, Current City, and Current State.On acceptance of a Privacy Policy, the registrant my select from a fieldof 9 predefined messages, but has no option to enter a customizedmessage. Interested parties may search the Safe and Well List onacceptance of the Privacy Policy. Required fields for the search of theregistered are: the Last Name and either; the Pre Disaster Home Phone;or the Home Address Line 1, Home State, and Home Zip Code. Theinterested party can leave no message or acknowledgment that the messagehas been received. Moreover, a lost pet identified by phone number onlycould not be matched with an owner.

Clearly a rapid person-to-person communications method isneeded—particularly one that is equipped to handle a large nomadiccomponent.

In US Patent Application Pub. No.: US2007/0269023 A1, incorporated byreference, Klauer et al. discloses a subscriber method of crisiscommunications including a plurality of crisis communication points(CCPs) located in geographically dispersed areas. For a subscriptionfee, and by prior arrangement, a family gains access to a voice messagesystem by a personal identifier, i.e., password. This allows two-wayvoice messaging between subscribers. While this system has merit forthose that can afford the service and make plans in advance, it providesno assistance for those that can not afford the service or fail toanticipate the need, and it would require remembering the infrequentlyused personal identifier to gain entry. Moreover, it does not providefor communications between non subscribers such as neighbors, fellowworkers, church associates, etc.

In US Patent Application Pub. No.: US2007/0165789 A1, incorporated byreference, Hulls discloses a Dynamic Family Disaster Plan with similarlimitations as Klauer, e.g., the need for individual planning inadvance.

Many telephone subscription services include voice messaging withenhanced bundled services such as caller ID. In principle, thesubscriber could access the recorded greeting and modify the message toupdate callers as to the subscriber's status, and retrieve messages froma remote location. This would require all family members remembering theaccess code and instructions, which is typically only remembered by onefamily member at best. Such normally desirable privacy constraints couldinhibit use or render it unreliable as a means for voice messaging. Mostsubscriber owned voice messaging systems also provide for remote accesswith an access code. These systems suffer from the same privacyconstraints and if the telephone service or power is off at thesubscriber location they would be rendered useless.

The need exists for a robust rapidly executable communications methodthat requires minimum preparation by the individual. Preferably it wouldbe implemented by a single authority or sponsor, sua sponte, therebyreducing duplication and uncertainty as to where to search for anindividual, i.e., a virtual pre-defined default communications meetingplace. It should dispense with security constraints and knowledge aboutan individual such as passwords street addresses, etc.

The basis for an identification system exists in the form ofpre-emergency subscriber telephone numbers. For example, most peopleknow, or have ready access to the phone numbers of individuals ofinterest. This would include home, cell, and work phone numbers. Oftentimes even small children and the mentally challenged know phone numbersfor family and friends. Even the phone numbers that are not known areprobably available through a third party that can relay a message. Thisinstant knowledge of telephone numbers is exploited by Liebermann inU.S. Pat. No. 7,287,009, incorporated by reference, and by merchantssuch as Auto Zone, Kroger Plus Shopper's Card, pizza delivery services,credit card verification services, laundry and dry cleaning services,etc., for customer identification. The customer is identified by calledID or by entering the well known phone number. However, in all knownexamples, the number is used to qualify the transaction and link to apredefined database, i.e., prior administrative work is required.

The hardware foundation for a person-to-person voice message and emailmessage system already exists. For example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,321,655and 7,330,537, which are incorporated by reference, Skakkeback et al.,and Frifeldt et al. teach integrated cache systems that provide wideaccess to voice mail and email services. Internet email services arewidely available free of charge from providers such as Yahoo, Microsoft,etc.

The problem to be solved is to employ the existing hardware capabilitiesin such a way as to make the resources available in a systematictemporary arrangement on short notice with no a priori planning on thepart of the individuals, i.e., implemented by a sponsor, sue sponte.

The missing link in the art is a method to integrate diversetechnologies and a sponsor with the resources to secure, or contractfor, the hardware, conduct the planning, publicize the existence of, andsua sponte trigger execution when needed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods are disclosed for rapidly establishing alternate electronicmessaging for person-to-person communications in a large-scaleemergency. Details for constructing electronic access addressescomprised in part by subscriber telephone numbers and an eventidentifier, allows the provider to establish a default system with nospecific information from the user while allowing the user to access themessages in a systematic way. No registration or passwords are required,which allows free access to all interested parties.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the telephone system connection to theevent identifier, user identifier, and messages.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the event identifier and user identifiercombined to construct the electronic access address for a voice mailsystem.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the event identifier and user identifiercombined to construct the electronic access address for an email system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Methods will be disclosed for creating communications overlays, where anoverlay will be described in more detail hereinbelow. It will beunderstood that electronic messages include, but are not limited to,voice mail, electronic text mail, electronic images, and data. An actiontaken sua sponte will be understood to be unilaterally taken by asponsor without requirements from the user, e.g., no registration orpassword requirements.

Implementation breaks down into two major systems requirements. Creationof a communications overlay requires a unique identifier for each cell.The identifier must be generated by a simple algorithm which can beunderstood by the masses without individual registration or ambiguity.Hardware and software must be provided at minimal expense and preferablymaximizing off the shelf elements and/or preexisting resources.

Electronic Access Address

Modern electronic communications in the form of the telephone system andthe Internet provide an architecture for providing a large-scalecommunications system overlayed on the existing subscriber telephone andemail systems, e.g., but not limited to, creating a temporarylarge-scale block of telephone voice mail boxes and/or email accounts.This requires a plurality of electronic access addresses where it isunderstood that an electronic access address could be a telephonenumber, email address, or other electronic address. In the preferredembodiment, the overlayed system should not affect the functioningcommunications system, but should augment by providing a defaultcontingency plan. In the preferred embodiment, the system should becapable of being activated in a time frame of less than one hour.

The United States telephone number system is comprised of a 3 digit areacode, 3 digit exchange, and a 4 digit subscriber number. In combination,the 10 digit number uniquely directs a call to a specific subscriber. Bydefault, a call can be placed within an area code by only dialing thelast 7 digits of a number. Alternately, a number in another country maybe called directly by preceding the call with the International AccessCode 011, followed by the Country Code, i.e., A 10 digit number in theUnited States may be duplicated in another country, but by default thecall is routed within the United States, unless preceeded by therequisite prefix numbers. Likewise, the least significant 7 digitnumbers may be duplicated between area codes, i.e., the numbers areoverlayed. A 7 digit number provides 10⁷, or 10,000,000 unique phonenumbers. All numbers are not in active use by subscribers and not allcombinations are available, e.g., 911 can not be a valid area code. Soin practice the number of usable combinations is less than 10⁷.

In a large-scale event such as the flooding of New Orleans, 10⁷candidate phone numbers would be more than adequate to accommodate thenumber of displaced, or nomadic, people.

A central planning sponsor such as The Federal Emergency ManagementAgency (FEMA), The American Red Cross, or a state emergency planningauthority, could assume responsibility for emergency person-to-personcommunications. This would avoid overloading the communications systemswith useless attempts, needless duplication of resources, and ambiguityas to how the individual is to respond to an emergency. It will beunderstood that while a United States Government or establishedemergency agency is a preferred sponsor, a corporate sponsor, or aforeign government could also act.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that implementing alarge-scale block of electronic access addresses is a minor softwareprogram. The significant obstacle is pairing individuals with theresources through the electronic access addresses in a unilateralmethod, i.e., the authority unilaterally builds a system, and theindividual elects to accesses the system, or not. In other words, thesponsor builds a system and the individuals use it if they so choose.

In this respect, the 911 emergency phone system disclosed by Connell etal. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,060 is a good example. A traveler anywhere inthe United States knows by default that they can call the universalnumber 911 in an emergency, without need to know under which authoritythey actually need to call, i.e., city, county, state, or a specificunique phone number for that locality.

Either an unused area code, or some other unique prefix known in theart, such as the method used by prepaid calling cards (caller dials auniversal toll free number and then directs the call to the desiredsubscriber), could be assigned to create a virtual overlay of the 7digit subscriber telephone number system. Hereinafter virtual overlay isdefined to be an electronic communications system residing in memory inwhich at least a portion of the electronic access address is comprisedof an event designated default portion of preferably at least 3 digits;in combination with a number of at least 4 digits and preferably atleast 7 digits, e.g., a virtual overlay could designate an unused 3digit area code combined with a 7 digit user identifier code.

The sponsor could broadcast the event identifier to the individuals, andthe individuals would combine that with their subscriber telephonenumber, acting as a user identifier, to construct an electronic accessaddress that would be unique to the event at hand.

The elegance of the method will become apparent to those skilled in theart from the Figures and details of the preferred embodiments.

First Preferred Embodiment

The First Preferred Embodiment employs an architecture based on thetelephone infrastructure and electronic voice mail as shown in FIG. 1and FIG. 2.

The virtual overlay system provides capability for recording and playingvoice messages, i.e., voice mail. The system is activated 14 byconnecting to the public telephone network by the responsible sponsorand requires no access password. In a typical scenario, a sponsor wouldpublicize the system existence prior to an emergency, and activate thesystem prior to a known threat, such as a hurricane, or immediatelyafter an event. For example, an unused area code, which will bedesignated ABC, hereinafter will be understood to mean a 3 digit symbolavailable on the conventional 12 button telephone, 0-9, *, and #, wouldbe designated for the event as the event identifier 11. The public wouldbe advised that in an interruption of telephone services, or in anomadic situation, they should call the electronic access address 21constructed of the event identifier 11 ABC, followed by their subscriber7 digit phone number user identifier 12. The caller would be given theoption of recording a message 13 or playing back messages 13, but couldnot delete messages 13, i.e., the messages would be managed by thesponsor in a methodical manner to conserve resources and avoidconflicts. The system would be available to anyone on a toll free basiswith no expectation of privacy or preferential ownership privileges. Itwill be apparent that by such a system, people could establishperson-to-person messaging and thereby establish more direct alternatemeans of communication, e.g., a hotel name, cell phone number, etc.

The sponsor could limit the length of messages to help freecommunications systems. It could also limit the memory available bypushing out older messages (first in first out) as the allocated memoryis exceeded. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that 10⁷voice mail boxes would far exceed the requirement for most emergencies.Rather than providing the full capability by default, it would conservehardware requirements by dynamically allocating boxes. For example, whena number is called the computer could check to see if it has beeninitiated. If so, simply route the call to that box. If this is thefirst call to that number, automatically allocate a box to that numberand route the call to that box. It will also be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, that an event would likely involve more than onearea code. In that event, callers will simply share the same box in aparty line arrangement with no expectation of privacy.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that such a system wouldbe subject to spam calls. Spam filters are well known in the art and itwould be desirable to include such a filter at the head end. It wouldalso be desirable to include the entire ABC prefix under the national donot call registration protection.

Second Preferred Embodiment

In the case of the Internet, a domain could be used to differentiate theemergency system from the existing email system, i.e., the ABC prefixwould not be required. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, email addressescould be created using all possible 7 digit telephone numbers as theuser identifier 12 in combination with a unique domain as the eventidentifier 11 to construct the electronic access address 21, such as8675309@katrina.gov. Individuals would go to the default email address21 to check for all messages 13 and email could be sent from any emailaddress to the designated email address. No password would be requiredto log into the email, so all messages would be available to allinterested parties. Email could be forwarded, or replied to, but notdeleted. Addresses could be dynamically allocated as in the FirstPreferred Embodiment, or simply created for all possible combinations.It will be recognized that spam and message length could be controlledby techniques well know in the art.

Third Preferred Embodiment

The Third Preferred Embodiment employs an architecture based onintegrating the telephone system and the Internet and electronic mail(email) as described hereinafter.

In U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,537 Frifeldt et al. discloses an integratedmessaging server directory service with a communication system voicemail message interface, which is incorporated by reference hereinabove.This system, sold by Adomo Incorporated of Cupertino, Calif., isdescribed in the Adomo Voice Messaging Getting Started manual which isincorporated by reference herein. Section 8 describes a system thatintegrates voice messages into Microsoft Outlook whereby voice messagesare accessed by a personal computer. An incoming message is routed tothe designed PC Outlook account. Messages generate an email messagelisting the incoming voice messages by sender and time. The messages canthen be played in the selected order. It will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that such a system my be exploited by the FirstPreferred Embodiment for voice message management and playback on a PCin parallel with telephone access, as well as integrating the SecondPreferred Embodiment for email messages.

Having described the methods, many variations of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, which are disclosed in theclaim limitations. For example, lost pet owners will be more easilycontacted by including a telephone number identification on the pet.Schools and teachers can rapidly contact children's parents by simplyasking the children for their phone numbers. Identification of bodiescan be expedited by expanding the contact to extended family and friendsthat would otherwise not be located without extensive research.Neighbors can more easily check on each other and provide assistance,even under nomadic conditions. The communications systems would be freedof needless traffic which would expedite more pressing emergency use.The psychological impact of a terrorist attack would be lessoned, andpossibly deterred.

1. A method for emergency communications, with steps comprising: (a)providing by a sponsor, sua sponte, equipment configured to receive,store, retrieve, and play, in a nonpreferrential manner, electronicmessages associated with one of a plurality of electronic accessaddresses; (b) establishing by the sponsor, an event identifier; (c)communicating from the sponsor to the public at large, a prescribedmanner for constructing the plurality of electronic access addresses;(d) communicating from the sponsor to the public at large, the eventidentifier; (e) configuring by the sponsor, the plurality of electronicaccess addresses of the equipment, based at least in part on the eventidentifier, a plurality of user identifiers, and the prescribed manner;(f) activating the equipment by the sponsor, and making the equipmentaccessable for use by the public at large starting at a first time,wherein the first time is based at least in part on recognition of astart of the emergency by the sponsor; (g) configuring by the public atlarge, at least one electronic access address, based at least in part onthe event identifier, at least a part of a subscriber telephone number,and the prescribed manner; (h) using the equipment by the public atlarge to receive, store, retrieve, and play the electronic messagesassociated with the at least one electronic access address; and (i)deactivating the equipment by the sponsor, and making the equipmentunaccessable for use by the public at large starting at a second time,wherein the second time is based at least in part on recognition of anend to the emergency by the sponsor.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein:in step (a) the equipment is a voice mail system.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein: in step (a) the equipment is an email system.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein: in step (e) the plurality of user identifierscomprises a universe of all possible permutations of at least 4numerical digits.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (e) theplurality of user identifiers comprises a universe of all possiblepermutations of at least 7 numerical digits.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein: in step (b) the event identifier consist of symbols availableon a telephone keypad.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (b)the event identifier is associated with a name selected from the groupconsisting of a hurricane, a flood, a tornado, an earthquake, a fire, avolcanic event, a tsunami, an industrial accident, a transportationaccident, an act of war, the sponsor, a government agency, a not forprofit organization, a company, and an advertiser.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: in step (b) the event identifier is allocated for aspecific event and expires after the event is over.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: in step (b) the event identifier is a telephone areacode.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (b) the eventidentifier is a telephone country code.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein: in step (b) the event identifier is an Internet domain.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: in step (h) the public at large may notdelete messages.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (h) theelectronic access address is directly dialed on a telephone in oneoperation.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (h) there is noexpectation of privacy of a message stored on the equipment by thepublic at large.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein: in step (g) thereis no expectation of preferential ownership privleges of the at leastone electronic access address by the public at large.
 16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: in step (h) at least one message is forwarded by amember of the public at large to a private email account.